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How to secure Firefox - 5 useful tools

Want to learn how to secure FireFox? Well, there are a number of different add-ons and tools that can help you to protect, manage and secure FireFox, giving you a more secure internet surfing experience.

In this article we show you how to secure Firefox with some useful add-ons from beefing up your online privacy and security to keeping annoying ads at bay.

1. Use private mode

It’s always a good idea to enforce good habits when it comes to online privacy, and one of them is to use ‘private mode’ AKA incognito mode which is particularly beneficial to users who use public computers such as those you find in internet cafes, at your local library, or if you share a PC.

Private mode or incognito mode is available on a number of internet browsers including Firefox,Safari and other major browsers - so try to get into the habit of using this feature - just one of many tools you can use to ensure your privacy is not compromised.

2. Do you work with many browser tabs open at the same time?

If you, like I do, work with many browser tabs open at the same time you may find that using ‘private mode’ (as explained above) isn’t ideal since it does not keep a history of your online searches. But don’t fret - because there’s an add-on for that! Use a bookmarking app such as Mozilla’s Xmarks which backs up your searches in your Xmarks web account.

3. Set your homepage to an IP checker website

It’s a good idea to set your homepage to an IP-checker website to ensure your privacy is maintained. Use Hide My Ass! IP checker to confirm your IP location and ISP. The HMA! IP checker also allows you to set an alarm, so if your IP address changes, the colour of the icon changes!

4. Disable running scripts

JavaScript runs across many websites but there will be a number of websites that you may not trust. As JavaScript is widely used across the web, disabling it may reduce the level of net functionality. Using NoScript allows you to disable Java, Flash or other scripts on websites you don’t trust, and whitelist the ones you do. It’s worth pointing out that using NoScript won’t encrypt your data, but it will potentially stop any harmful code running on your computer.

5. Block ads

For those of you who love ads (anyone?), you won’t be needing this adblocker. For the vast majority of us, we welcome AdBlock Plus with open arms. It’s a fantastic extension which blocks ads, tracking, and malware even on YouTube and Facebook - and the best part, it’s free! It has been downloaded by over 300 million people - which illustrates pretty well how annoying we find ads!

Look out for more articles on how to secure FireFox. What tools and add-ons do you use for FireFox to secure and protect your privacy online? Let us know by commenting here on our blog.